Hello everyone. I’m new to te website and just registered today. I am a type 1 diabetic, and on here looking for help in any kind of way, because lately I haven’t been doing to well. My blood sugars have been up and down, and this year I have passed out 3-5 times including today. It’s never a good sight when I’m on the floor not mentally there, weak, unable to move with my body cold and sweating. I try to explain to loved ones about what I’m going through, but I feel like they don’t understand. I hope I can meet people who I can talk about my diabetes and will understand, and not judge.
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Welcome Larry,
I’m sorry you’re having a tough time. My first question is do you have a dexcom to help warn you about your lows?
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While I don’t want to pry into matters you might consider private, it still helps to have some context before trying to suggest anything. I assume you are passing out from insulin induced hypoglycemia? Yes?
So are you T1 or T2 or ??? How long have you been working on this? What type of treatment are you using? MDI? Insulin pump? CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring)? Do the blackout’s hit you without warning (hypoglycemic unawareness) or can you anticipate them to some degree?
What’s your favorite color? 
Welcome here. I joined this group shortly after adult diagnosis of T1 and some of the advice I’ve gotten here since then, especially early on, has really helped me to get a handle on things. Happy to have you here.
Welcome! You will find lots of friends who are walking this path too.
We help each other.
No I don’t have a dexcom. I use my own judgement to determine my highs and lows. Ever since I’ve passed out quite a few times in the last 3 months, I’ve been constantly checking my sugars throughout the day.
I am a T1 diabetic. I was diagnosed at age 6 and I am now 29. I’m on Novolog right now. I was on Lantus as well, but stopped. I’ve been monitoring my sugars as best as I can. Last year, my A1C was 11.8. I brought it down earlier this year to around a 9. Throughout the year I’ve passed out at work and at home, because of hypo (low blood sugars). I’m feeling more tired and my diet has been off.
I can determine most of the time when the hypo hits, but sometimes I can’t. Usually, it’s the people around me who notice it. I know when I’m lacking sleep, that’s when my sugars are on a roller coaster. The blackouts seem to be happening when I’m awake and when I’m asleep.
Thank you Sam for the warm greetings. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this website, and hope to benefit from it.
Thank you Yeagen. I hope to meet others who I can talk about my situations, and who I know will understand what I’m going through.
Welcome to TuDiabetes. Understanding is available here.
So you are only using a fast-acting insulin, no long-acting?
it might be helpful if you could get some guidance from a Certified Diabetes Educator(CDE)
welcome to one of the best sites ever. i have learned so much about myself and how to manage my D here. but i have to agree with MarieB: get yourself to a Certified Diabetes Educator first things first.
make yourself a list of questions you want to ask him/her, and no need to feel embarrassed for asking a million different questions…even if you find you have to ask the same question a number of times for clarity purposes. we don’t judge here, but you may (or may not) feel judged by some professionals; if this is the case, find yourself another that you feel comfortable working with. you live with a disease; you ARE NOT the disease.
hope this helps. good luck and keep us all posted on how you’re doing! 
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So you dont use lantus anymore because you are on a pump or just because you decided so?
i would highly recommend getting a pump or getting on long lasting if the latter is the case, because this can bring way more stability into your bloodsugars, hence also lessen hypoglycemias.
if you can get your hands on a dexcom eventually, get one, because they do help a lot.
i have a sensor myself, and since never really had low hypos at night, but last night i didnt wear it and boom, here we are emptying the kitchen.
welcome here, you will find a lot of help on tud
That’s correct. I’m only using a fast-acting insulin right now, and should really get back on the long-acting one.
Thank you Marie. I greatly appreciate the link 
@Larryest2, welcome! Support from people who know about diabetes from the inside out is special. CDEs and doctors can help but they cannot easily talk about the psycho-social and emotional aspects of diabetes. Like regaining consciousness after blacking out from a severe hypo. That clammy skin totally wrung-out feeling combined with the horrifying and embarrassing realization that you just “made a scene.” Friends and relatives are concerned and sometimes it’s easy to rebel against that concern as you try to restore your eroded sense of adult agency and basic competency to live an independent life.
People don’t get how easy it is to get fooled by the approaching low and why we don’t just try to treat it and prevent it. They don’t understand that as we slip into a severe low, the very thing we need to solve the problem, our brain, is starved for the fuel it needs to do its job.
Your joining here and reaching out to your peers indicates to me that you want to change your ways and the trajectory that you’re currently on.
I have some suggestions. Take what you find useful and ignore the rest. That’s OK. First of all, you need to be more aware of you blood sugar status. This will not prevent every low but you can pre-empt a lot of them. Don’t be afraid to test a lot. At a minimum, I would suggest testing first thing when you wake up and the last thing you do before you go to sleep. Test before a meal and at least once two hours after eating. Test before, during, and after physical exertion. Don’t be fooled, even things like light housekeeping or washing the car can drive down blood sugar.
Someone suggested already to think about getting a continuous blood glucose monitor. I second that suggestion. It is the single best piece of diabetes tech to come down the pike in the 32 years I’ve battled diabetes. It teaches you how your blood glucose metabolism works. Make it your goal to become an expert on how your body (that includes your insulin injections!) regulates blood sugar. That education will pay innumerable dividends. It is not a waste of time.
Use this setback to make your life better. Passing out 3-5 times per year is not an easy way to live. The ever-present fear of being stalked by that monster would make anyone nervous. You can do better. Maybe not perfect but better.
I encourage you to learn everything you can about type 1 diabetes. There are several good books you can read. Take your time if you try to learn more. You don’t have to learn it all at once but a determined focus over time will make a huge difference. Our ability to learn and then apply that knowledge makes diabetes particularly amenable for improvement.
Good luck! Some of the best things I know about pragmatically dealing with diabetes, I learned right on this site. It is a potent antidote to deal with diabetes.
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Dexcom? I have never heard of one. I don’t know how it works. Then again, I’ve never been told by my Doctor. He did recommend me the pump. I just can’t see myself wearing a machine, but many people have told me that it does wonders.
I need to really look into it more and do some research on a dexcom 
Why would you have stopped taking lantus? For most of us, some sort of basal insulin, whether lantus or levemir or a pump, or even nph is absolutely necessary?
We don’t know your whole story yet, but it sounds like the treatment program you’re following may not be up to modern standards… Such as not using basal insulin, having not heard of cgm, etc …I can assure you that it is possible to live life by and large free from severe hyper or hypoglycemia-- it is possible and many of us here do it— but it definitely requires the right tools
here’s a little info on dexcom cgms
what kind of insulin do you take? how many shots do you take? I’m curious how a type1 can manage without any basal insulin
Not only did I NEVER want to wear a machine, I was also turned off by all of the problems that I’ve seen/heard people have with pumps. My endo introduced me to “wearing a machine” by getting me on a (Dexcom) continuous glucose monitor. As @Terry4 said, it was life-changing. The monitor gave me a lot of information to help me better manage my BG - and warnings to avoid or quickly treat lows.
A year ago, my endo wanted me to go on a pump to better mitigate the lows I was having (after trying a lot of changes first that failed). My thought was, “What? ANOTHER attachment!?” Despite my trepidation, I went along with it and, after a big fight with my insurance company (because my DX is Type 2…), I got a pump. Short story: I had nearly ALL of the problems that worried me about pump usage – and I STILL think the pump has been an incredibly helpful tool! Better management, lower TDD, and, though it was not part of the reason for getting it, quite a bit of increased convenience.
Definitely do research, and learn as much as you can about available devices and about T1D management. And speak with your doc and a CDE, if possible, I got - and still get - a lot of help from the online community of peers along my journey - Use all these resources! There are some very smart people on this site - many of whom have had and managed similar issues, concerns, etc.
(… and hardly any of them have reminded me that my T2S must be my fault for being a fat, gluttonous sloth… 
)
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